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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Students from Bremen, Germany go from Kenai to Mars
This is the second exchange Dimond High School in Anchorage has had with the Oekumenisches Gymnasium school in Bremen, Germany according to Dean Ball, foreign language teacher at Dimond High, “This year we have 11 students from Germany with us, 8 girls and 3 boys who are visiting us along with their teacher Carola Bolte for 3 weeks and we have been doing our best to show them Alaska and this week being our spring break we took them to Mars via the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska and were also able to spend the night here at the Center and show them much of the Peninsula as well,” Ball told the Dispatch.

Honrud Dinner/Auction features new Polaris ATV
According to Shanon Hamrick, of the KPTMC, this Saturday March 22nd a Dinner/Auction Fundraiser is being held to help Cody Honrud’s familiy at the Soldotna Sports Center with doors opening at 5:30pm, dinner at 6:00pm and the auction to start at 7:00pm.

Phi Theta Kappa inductees honored at KPC
Students who strive for academic excellence were honored last week at the Alpha Omega Omicron Kenai Peninsula College induction ceremony for the Phi Theta Kappa (KPT) Honor Society. According to Chapter Advisor Diane Taylor, “Phi Theta Kappa was by established by Missouri two-year college presidents in 1918 and the International Honor Society serves to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and provide opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming. Today PTK is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 1.3 million members and 1,100 chapters located throughout the 50 United States, U.S. Territories, Canada, Germany, and Japan. In 1929 the American Association of Community Colleges recognized Phi Theta Kappa as the official honor society for two-year colleges,” stated Taylor at the Kenai River Campus ceremony.

Big Trout small Pike and lots of Derby winners
This year’s Soldotna Trustworthy Ice Fishing Derby had some very interesting results: More participants, record number of fish caught, first ever woman to complete a Derby Flush, more winners, more prizes, larger trout, and smaller pike, “Fish & Game has been doing a great job with their nets reducing the pike population and of course our derby fishers have been targeting hard as well, but they were smaller and harder to get this year and we are happy to see that because we saw an increase in the size and number of lake trout, rainbows, and dollys, we even had some dollies brought in from some of those pike lakes and that’s significant. Over all this was a huge year for big fish,” said Scott Miller of Soldotna Hardware who has been putting on the annual event for the last 12 years.

Fundraiser rolls to successful finish
My fifth-grade class at Nikiski North Star Elementary recently baked and sold 1,152 cinnamon rolls. This cinnamon roll bakery fundraiser was a sweet success; we are well on our way to Kasitsna Bay! The kids were amazing workers, and the parents were generous contributors.

Talent show disappointing
It's quite appalling to me that several very talented acts at the community talent show March 12 at Kenai Central High School were surpassed for first place by an act in which a group of high school senior males tried to copy a Chippendale strip show performance, especially when one of the senior males decided to "strip to the G-string" fiasco at the end.

Bush's actions anger reader
I am writing to express my disappointment over President Bush's decision to veto the bill HR 2082. This bill prevents the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. agents from using waterboarding, sexual humiliation dogs and other techniques that amount to torture.

Suggested Fish and Game move sounds a little too fishy
An article in the March 11 Anchorage Daily News called, "Salmon politics may uproot managers," stated new language being discussed that would "close the commercial and sportfishing offices in Soldotna," moving the managers from Soldotna to Anchorage.

Lessons on how to safeguard against identity theft slated
It doesn't take much for someone to obtain private information. It can start with an e-mail, the swipe of a credit card or a familiar phone number showing up on your caller ID before you unwittingly wind up the victim of identity theft.

Council: Paint job may be required for Conex boxes
When rumor raced through the airwaves of Kenai a couple months ago saying the city planned to give all Conex-type storage boxes the boot, several people showed up at the next scheduled city council meeting ready to object.

Photo feature: Horsing around
A new filly nicknamed Puddles uses her mother, Rose, for shelter against the breeze last week at the Martin family's Diamond M Ranch in Kenai. The horse was born last Sunday and has markings nearly identical to its mother.

Not really as good as gold: Mining industry must pay fair share for what it takes from Alaska
The "Voices of the State" editorial on March 6 on the important role of mining in the future of Alaska does not tell you the complete story about what is driving the recent economic boost to state and local governments. Article VII - Natural Resource of the Alaska Constitution states, "It is the policy of the State to encourage the settlement of its land and the development of its resources by making them available for maximum use consistent with the public interest."

Reader submitted recipe
The mysterious ingredient called Filo (phyllo) dough would make me cringe when my mother-in-law would say to me, "Let's make a large pan of Spanakopeta." It took some time to relax when I had to pick up one pastry sheet at a time and hope that it wouldn't fall apart before laying it into the baking pan. Below is one of several Grecian creations my family looks forward to me preparing. A key ingredient to the success of a dish or dessert made with filo is to relax while handling the paper thin sheets as you layer them. Sherry Karnikis, Kasilof

Spring tea with style, good manners and a little PB and J
Some girls really know how to spring a party for their friends. When 5-year-old Kate Holland told her mother that she'd like to have a party, the timing couldn't have been better. With Easter just days away, Kate thought a spring tea party, culminating with an outdoor Easter egg hunt, would be just the thing, and her mother agreed.

Around the Peninsula
Alliance meeting set
Fibromyalgia support groups forms
Trappers set to meet
Easter dinner planned
CPHC board to meet
Bear baiting clinics set
CIRCAC to meet
Car seat check-ups offered
Child screening set
Community health fair set

Around the Peninsula
Dinner, auction fundraiser set
PenDOG plans Canine Good Citizen test
FASD training offered
Holocaust to be discussed
Kids reading program continues
Donations sought for military personnel

Harkness monster
Immediately following Seldovia's second-place finish in the Peninsula Conference tournament 10 days ago, Levi Harkness said advancing to state has been the ultimate goal since his freshman year.

Ninilchik wins
Ashley Bartolowits scored a team-high 16 points and Lindsay Schnabl and Grace Ehlers each added 13 in leading Ninilchik past Northway, 54-42, on Tuesday in the opening round of the Class 2A state basketball championships at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Tsalteshi ski race hangs in limbo
The race director of the Cross Country Alaska Championship Race said he thinks people are waiting until the last minute to sign up for the Saturday race at Tsalteshi Trails, which are located behind Skyview High School.